Devil's Punchbowl Natural Area

 trailhead, fault (geology), nature conservation park / area

 Upload a photo

28000 Devil's Punchbowl Road
Pearlblossom, CA 93553
(661) 944-2743
www.devils-punchbowl.com/index.html

www.topoquest.com/map.php?lat=34.40944&lon=-117.84756&d...

The rock layers exposed at the Devil's Punchbowl are the Punchbowl Formation, consisting of about 5,000 feet of non-marine light gray sandstone, conglomerate and thin shale strata. The rock was derived from the weathering of granite from the Mojave Block, deposited in a formerly flat basin to the south of the Mojave Block, which was subsequently tilted by movement along the Punchbowl and San Andreas Faults.
The Devil's Punchbowl rock is very similar to the Miocene (7 to 25 million years old) "Punchbowl" formation in Cajon Pass, but fossils show that the rock at the Devil's Punchbowl is younger, with ages of lower Pliocene to upper Miocene (about 5 to 10 million years). Much speculation has been made about whether these formations were once in juxtaposition, and have been separated by movement along the San Andreas and Punchbowl Faults, but the faults are apparently complex enough that it is difficult to agree on a reconstruction. Both units may once have been next to matching rock to the south of Punchbowl fault that is now 30 miles to the northwest.

A very cool place to visit and hike the canyon rim. In late spring the brook in the canyon flows through some very smoothed over chutes creating a natural water slide. After hiking the park, be sure to stop at Saint Andrew's Priory, a monastery open to the public, located between the Punchbowl and Pearblossom.